Pallet assembly

ABSTRACT

A pallet assembly is provided which includes a grid-patterned frame and a plurality of supporting legs detachably coupled to the grid-patterned frame, wherein each supporting leg is formed locking portions for securely coupling the supporting leg to the grid-patterned frame, a supporting portion disposed between the locking portions so as to elevate the grid-patterned frame to a predetermined height, and a couple of base portions interconnecting the locking portions and the supporting portion. The base portions are flat in shape so as to form a supporting plane which is of sufficient planarity to prevent underlying cargo from being crushed.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to pallets, and more particularly, to a pallet that can be used for the handling, storage or movement of stacked cargoes and merchandise.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art

[0004] In general, cargo transportation requires a cargo-holding pallet, allowing cargoes to be conveniently stacked in a container as well as to be easily moved by using a forklift in and out of the container.

[0005] A conventional cargo-holding pallet is made of wood, plastics, metal, corrugated paper and so on. In consideration of cost of structural strength, wooden cargo-holding pallets are most widely used in import and export transportation. However, since imported cargoes packaged by wooden materials are required to undergo a fumigation process for quarantine purposes in many countries procedures and cost are increased for importing cargoes in use of wooden cargo-holding pallets at the entry port.

[0006] The applicant of the present invention has disclosed a steel bar pallet in ROC New Utility Model Patent No. 320146, which is composed of a holding frame with interlaced steel bars, for being detachably mounted with a plurality of supporting legs. This patented pallet is not required to undergo the aforementioned fumigation process, since it is not made of wood. However, in practice, a drawback has been found that when this kind of steel bar pallets are stacked, the supporting legs coupled to the bottom of the holding frame of the steel bar pallet at an upper stacked position tend to crush the underlying cargo supported by the steel bar pallet at a lower stacked position.

[0007]FIG. 10 shows the “steel bar pallet” disclosed in the Patent No. 320146. Besides the above mentioned drawback of crushing the underlying cargo, when at least two pallets are vertically stacked, in practice the pallet further has the following drawbacks.

[0008] First, even though both of the holding frame 3 a and the supporting leg 4 a of the pallet can be made of inexpensive steel bars, in the actual manufacturing process it has been found that bending steel bars into small curves to form crooked portions 21 a, 22 a, the locking portion 41 a, and the receiving portion 42 a is not easy to perform. The holding frame 3 a and the supporting leg 4 a are required to be processed precisely, so that the pallet can be assembled in a manner as shown in FIG. 10. As such, a drawback of difficulty in manufacturing is present.

[0009] Moreover, it has also been found that the holding frame 3 a and the supporting leg 4 a made of steel bars are not of flexibility, especially the ends of a horizontal arm 44 a of the supporting leg 4 a that are formed with the locking portions 41 a. Therefore, it is difficult to couple the supporting leg 4 a to the holding frame 3 a in a manner as shown in FIG. 10; even if once being coupled, the supporting leg 4 a is difficult to be discoupled therefrom. As such, there is a drawback of difficulty in assembling and disassembling.

[0010] In addition, although a heat-shrinkable film or a plastic wrap is available for packaging the cargo in position on the pallet, a conventional wrapping strap is most widely used for its lower cost, such as a PE strap or a steel-sheet strap. However, in such a conventional practice of using the strap for packaging, drawbacks have been found that the straps are required to be fastened and overlapped by a packing apparatus, and then clasping or welding means is used for securely fixing together the ends of straps. As a result, the conventional way of holding cargo on the pallet in place by straps is laborious and time-consuming to perform.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a pallet assembly that is easy to be fabricated as well as to be assembled and disassembled.

[0012] It is another objective of the present invention to provide a pallet assembly that can help prevent crushing of the underlying cargo from occurrence when the pallet assemblies are stacked during transportation.

[0013] It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a pallet assembly that can simplify the packaging process, when straps are used for holding cargo on the pallet assembly in place.

[0014] In accordance with the foregoing and other objectives of the present invention, a pallet assembly is provided, which includes a grid-patterned frame having a frame body and a plurality of lengthwise bars and crosswise bars connected to the frame body, the lengthwise bars and crosswise bars being positioned within a space confined by the frame body and intersecting with each other; and a plurality of supporting legs, each of the supporting legs being composed of a first locking portion for locking one end of the supporting leg to the grid patterned frame, a second locking portion for locking another end of the supporting leg to the grid-patterned frame, a supporting portion disposed between the first and second locking portions for abutting against the grid-patterned frame, allowing the grid-patterned frame to be elevated to a predetermined height by the supporting portion, and a pair of base portions provided between the first locking portion and the supporting portion and between the second locking portion and the supporting portion, respectively, each of the base portions being flat in shape so as to form a supporting plane for allowing the supporting legs to have a planar contact with objects underlying the pallet assembly.

[0015] The pair of base portions are symmetrically disposed with respect to the supporting portion. Therefore, when the supporting legs are securely coupled to the grid-patterned frame, the weight of cargo positioned on the grid-patterned frame is uniformly distributed to each of the base portion of the supporting leg, allowing the supporting legs to be kept from crushing or damaging any underlying cargo abutting the supporting legs.

[0016] Also, each of the supporting legs is formed by bending a steel bar whereby it is cost-effective and easy to manufacture. The second locking portion is formed at both ends of the steel bar and the two ends of the steel bar is kept unconnected. As a result, the second locking portion is capable of being deformed to a certain extent by clamping the two ends of the steel bar toward each other. This allows the supporting leg to be easily assembled with and disassembled from the grid-patterned frame.

[0017] Besides, as each of the supporting leg is formed by bending a steel bar, it is able to deform resulting from the weight of the cargo mounted on the pallet assembly, when the supporting leg is deformed, the first and second locking portions would abut against the lengthwise or crosswise bars, thereby preventing the supporting leg from being further deformed. Therefore, this arrangement allows the supporting leg to be shorter in length than the grid-patterned frame, making the supporting leg cost-effective and easy to manufacture.

[0018] Furthermore, frame body may be formed with a plurality of strap fastening portions, such as recesses or slots used to engage with the straps for fixing the cargo in position on the pallet assembly. This allows the strapping operation to be simplified and more convenient to carry out.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0019] The preferred embodiments of the pallet assembly according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the following drawings, wherein:

[0020]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the pallet assembly according to the present invention;

[0021]FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the pallet assembly of FIG. 1;

[0022]FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one supporting leg of FIG. 2;

[0023]FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing deformation of one supporting leg shown in FIG. 1 due to the weight of the cargo;

[0024]FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a strap being fastened by utilizing a strap fastening portion of a grid-patterned frame;

[0025]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a second preferred embodiment of the pallet assembly according to the present invention;

[0026]FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the pallet assembly of FIG. 6;

[0027]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of one supporting leg shown in FIG. 7;

[0028]FIG. 9 is schematic diagram showing deformation of one supporting leg shown in FIG. 6 due to the weight of the cargo; and

[0029]FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a pallet assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0030]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first preferred embodiment of the pallet assembly according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the pallet assembly of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of one supporting leg shown in FIG. 2. The first embodiment of the pallet assembly according to the present invention is disclosed with reference to the drawings.

[0031] In the drawings, the pallet assembly 10 of the invention includes a grid-patterned frame 100 and a plurality of supporting legs 140 detachably mounted on one side of the grid-patterned frame 100 for elevating the grid-patterned frame 100 to a predetermined height. The grid-patterned frame 100 is composed of a rectangular frame body 110 made by bending a long band of steel frame-shape structure and, a plurality of substantially equally-spaced lengthwise bars 120 and crosswise bars 130 connected to the frame body 110 in a manner that the lengthwise bars 120 and the crosswise bars 130 are disposed within a space confined by the frame body 110 and intersect with each other.

[0032] As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the supporting leg 140 is formed by bending a steel bar into two parallel elements, with the middle part of the steel bar being formed as a first locking portion 142 for connecting the two parallel elements and for being coupled with a mesh 102(a) of the grid-patterned frame 100 so as to bridge over two adjacent crosswise bars 130(a) and 130(b). Likewise, two ends of the steel bar is formed into a second locking portion 144 for being coupled with a mesh 102(b) of the grid-patterned frame 100 so as to bridge over two adjacent crosswise bars 130(a) and 130(b). Between the first locking portion 142 and the second locking portion 144, the supporting leg 140 is formed with a supporting portion 148 for elevating the grid-patterned frame 100 to a pre-determined height in a manner that the supporting portion 148 is able to abut against the two adjacent lengthwise bars 120(e) and 120(f). Further, a first base portion 146 is formed to interconnect the first locking portion 142 and the supporting portion 148 and a second base portion 147 is formed to interconnect the supporting portion 148 and the second locking portion 144. Also, as shown in FIG. 3, the first locking portion 142 is extended upwardly from the first base portion 146 and then bent towards the supporting portion 148 and, the second locking portion 144 is extended upwardly from the second base portion 147 and then bent towards the supporting portion 148.

[0033] Besides, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the first locking portion 142 is of a length greater than the distance between the two crosswise bars 130(a) and 130(b), while the second locking portion 144 is formed with a pair of extending ends so as to lock with the two adjacent crosswise bars 130(a) and 130(b).

[0034] Furthermore, the supporting leg 140 has two recessed portions respectively defined by the first locking portion 142, the first base portion 146, and the supporting portion 148, as well as the supporting portion 148, the second base portion 147, and the second locking portion 144. As such, when the supporting leg 140 is mounted on the bottom side of the grid-patterned frame 100, the recessed portions allow the folks of to penetrate therethrough in order to lift up the pallet assembly.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, the pallet assembly of the invention is illustrated shown to be composed of ten lengthwise bars 120, ten crosswise bars 130, three equally-spaced supporting legs 140, and the frame body 111 . If necessary, depending on the type of cargo to be held, numbers of the lengthwise bars 120, the crosswise bars 130, and the supporting legs 140 can be varied. Besides, the lengthwise bars 120, the crosswise bars 130, and the supporting legs 140 can be made by any suitable material; it is however preferable to use bamboo steel which is readily available and low in cost. Also, the supporting leg 140 is preferably formed by bending a bamboo steel bar.

[0036] As mentioned in the above, since the supporting leg 140 formed by bending a steel bar is of flexible feature, the supporting leg 140 may deform (as shown in FIG. 4, 140′ represents the deformed supporting leg) in response to the heavy load of the cargo 200 positioned on the grid-patterned frame 100. Therefore, the length of the supporting leg 140 can be made slightly smaller than the distance between two predetermined lengthwise bars 120(a) and 120(j) (please refer to FIG. 1). This allows, after the cargo 200 is loaded on the grid-patterned frame 100, the first locking portion 142 and the second locking portion 144 of each of the supporting legs 140 to be coupled with two crosswise bars and to abut against the lengthwise bars 120(a) and 120(j), respectively. Therefore, the weight of the cargo 200 can be evenly distributed by the supporting legs 140 together with the grid-patterned frame 100.

[0037] Also, because the length of the supporting leg 140 is slightly smaller than the distance between the two predetermined lengthwise bars 120(a) and 120(i), it is easier to assemble and disassemble the supporting leg 140 to and from the grid-patterned frame 100. Since the length of the supporting leg 140 does not have to be exactly the same as the distance between the two predetermined lengthwise bars 120(a) and 120(i), the supporting leg 140 is cost-effective to manufacture without precision concern.

[0038] Besides, because the base portions of the supporting leg 140 of the present invention are flat in shape, a plurality of the base portions of the supporting legs 140, after the supporting legs 140 are coupled to the grid-patterned frame 100, are capable of forming a supporting plane with a planarity sufficient to evenly spread the weight of the cargo in the crosswise (or lengthwise) direction of the grid-patterned frame 100. This arrangement thus can prevent the underlying cargo from being crushed, when at least two pallet assemblies are stacked.

[0039] As shown in FIG. 1, the frame body 110 is formed with a plurality of strap fastening slots 112. When the pallet assembly of the present invention is loaded with cargo, it needs only to first wind the strap around the cargo in a manner as shown in FIG. 5 and then round the strap across the notch 114 formed on the bottom edge of the frame body 110 and finally pass the strap through the slot 112 to securely fasten the strap in position with respect to the pallet assembly.

[0040]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the pallet assembly according to the present invention; FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the pallet assembly of FIG. 6; and FIG. 8 is a perspective view of one of the supporting legs shown in FIG. 7 The second preferred embodiment of the pallet assembly according to the present invention is disclosed in the following with reference to FIGS. 6 to 8.

[0041] The major difference between the second embodiment and the first embodiment of the present invention resides in the supporting legs. As shown in FIG. 7, a supporting leg 150 includes a first locking portion 152, a second locking portion 154, a supporting portion 158, a first base portion 156, and a second base portion 157. What differs the supporting leg 150 from the supporting leg 140 is that the first locking portion 152 is extended upwardly from the first base portion 156 and then bent away from the supporting portion 158, while the second locking portion 154 is extended upwardly from the second base portion 157 and then bent away from the supporting portion 158.

[0042]FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing the deformation of the supporting leg shown in FIG. 6 affected by the weight of the cargo 200 (150′ represents the deformed supporting leg). As shown in the drawing, the length of the supporting leg 150 is made slightly smaller than the distance between the two predetermined lengthwise bars 120(a) and 120(j) (referred to FIG. 6) as well. When the cargo 200 is loaded onto the grid-patterned frame 100, the supporting leg 150 is deformed accordingly, so that the first locking portion 152 and the second locking portion 154 are forced to abut against the two lengthwise bars 120(a) and 120(j) in response to the deformation of the supporting leg 150. Thus the weight of the cargo can be evenly distributed by the supporting legs 150 together with the grid-patterned frame 100.

[0043] The invention has been described using exemplary preferred embodiments. However, it is to be understood that the scope of the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements. The scope of the claims, therefore, should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A pallet assembly comprising: a grid-patterned frame, having a frame body and a plurality of lengthwise bars and crosswise bars connected to the frame body in a manner that they are disposed within a space confined by the frame body and intersect with each other, and a plurality of supporting legs, each of the supporting legs being composed of a first locking portion for locking one end of the supporting leg to the grid patterned frame, a second locking portion for locking another end of the supporting leg to the grid-patterned frame, a supporting portion disposed between the first and second locking portions for abutting against the grid-patterned frame, allowing the grid-patterned frame to be elevated to a predetermined height by the supporting portion, and a pair of base portions provided between the first locking portion and the supporting portion and between the second locking portion and the supporting portion, respectively, each of the base portions being flat in shape so as to form a supporting plane for allowing the supporting legs to have a planar contact with objects underlying the pallet assembly.
 2. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the supporting legs is smaller in length than the grid-patterned frame.
 3. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the supporting leg is formed by bending a steel bar.
 4. The pallet assembly of claim 3, wherein the second locking portion is formed with two outwardly extending ends for being coupled with two adjacent crosswise bars.
 5. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the supporting portion is formed into an inverted triangle shape.
 6. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the first locking portion is arranged to be coupled with two adjacent lengthwise (crosswise) bars, when the supporting portion abuts against two adjacent crosswise (lengthwise) bars.
 7. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the second locking portion is arranged to be coupled with two adjacent lengthwise (crosswise) bars, when the supporting portion abuts against two adjacent crosswise (lengthwise) bars.
 8. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the first locking portion is extended upwardly from the base portion and then bent towards the supporting portion, and the second locking portion is extended upwardly from the second base portion and then bent towards the supporting portion.
 9. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the first locking portion is extended upwardly from the base portion away from the supporting portion, and the second locking portion is extended upwardly from the base portion away from the supporting portion.
 10. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the frame body is formed by bending a band of steel plate.
 11. The pallet assembly of claim 10, wherein the frame body is formed with a plurality of strap fastening portions.
 12. The pallet assembly of claim 11, wherein the strap fastening portions are slots.
 13. The pallet assembly of claim 11, wherein the strap fastening portions are notches.
 14. The pallet assembly of claim 1, wherein the supporting legs each is formed into two parallel elements interconnected by the first locking portion. 